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The Poppinos of Orange County

John Poppino (ca 1704-5--ca 1788) had one son, John Poppino, Jr. (1727-1828) and five daughters.  Most of the family remained in Orange County for the next century or more.  This is the larger branch of the family, most of whom spell the name Poppino.  We won’t follow this branch in this paper except to talk briefly about the Revolutionary War experiences of John Poppino Jr.;  first cousin of my ancestor Peter Popino Jr. who fought the War in Virginia and Kentucky.

In the years leading up to the Revolution, Orange County developed as a democratic society of small landowning farmers (yeomen)while the counties across the Hudson River had great landowners and many tenant farmers.  If we look at the Poppino neighborhood, near the village of Florida we see that the young men usually married the girls next door, so all the families in the neighborhood were interrelated;  they all belonged to the Florida Presbyterian Church;  they all served in the same militia units.  It was a homogeneous society of mainly English background, with a few Scotch-Irish and Huguenots, who had quickly become assimilated into the Presbyterian Church.  There were a few slave owners but none of the Poppinos was included.  Perhaps they weren’t rich enough.

Every man between 18 and 50 had to own a gun and be available for duty in the militia. John Poppino Jr. had fought in the French and Indian War and with this experience became a militia officer in the Revolution, rising to the rank of Major. Three of his sons also fought in the Orange County militia, serving at times under their father.[1]  During the Revolutionary period, Committees of Safety and Observation were set up throughout the State and in April 1774 patriots showed which side they favored by signing a pledge to adopt and endeavor to carry into execution whatever measures may be recommended by the Continental Congres….and that we will in all things follow the advice of our General Committee…. Virtually everyone in Orange County signed.  The Committees became de facto revolutionary governments with power to appoint tax assessors and collectors, and to supervise the local police. In 1777 their powers were broadened to allow them to arrest persons levying war against the United States or assisting its enemies.  They also acted to confiscate the property of Tory loyalists.

Hector St John de Crèvecoeur, author of the classic Letters From An American Farmer, lived a few miles from John Poppino.[2] He was French but educated in England, and when the war began he sided with England.  In 1778, leaving his American family behind, he made his way to British-held New York City and sailed to England where he published his book.  In one of his essays, Landscapes, he offers a fictional account in which he describes a greedy and unflattering colonel who as chairman of the local Committee and commissioner for selling Tory estates, comes to the home of a Tory family, whose husband has just escaped to New York, to see what he can take.  All the names appear to be fictional except one: there is a knock at the door and in walks Major Poppino.

"Major: Why, what is the news here?

Colonel: Nothing worth mentioning, only that Francis Marston is gone to New York.  All his effects are to be sold to-morrow, and we came here to prepare his wife lest the shock should be too great.

Major: Ah, oh, Colonel, that is like your work—always more kind than need be to this sort of cattle. Your neighbors won’t thank you for this thrown-away humanity, I am sure, for they are well-known up and down among us.  Let them die the death, I say—and so say many more.

Colonel: (whispers into the Major’s ears): I meant principally to see how effects stood here. I see everything is replenished—‘tis a good prize. Won’t you be here tomorrow?

Major: By all means. Why this is a very fine farm: hogs, cattle, and horses in great abundance.

Colonel: Yes, I have just been a-visiting the granaries, chambers, and cellars—all full. Fine harvest to carry on the war—my heart merely exults. I want, Major, to purchase tomorrow that large rick of hay, counting maybe forty tons.  Won’t you bid for me, and I give a hint to you here that I want it for the service, and for the service it will be at last. But they will be sure to triple my advance.  These hard times we must turn a penny.  The hay will be wanted at the fish kill before the spring.

Major: That’s what I will, Colonel. I have been viewing that young fellow leading a fine stallion to the well. I want very much such a war-horse when we train the militia.  Could not you help me to the bargain?

Colonel: Why, I do not know.  The young man claims him as his property.  I am at a loss what to do on the occasion.

Major: Why, you must find a couple of the neighbors who will swear that they heard somebody say that they heard F. Marston say that he gave so much for the horse, which in fact I believe is very much so.  Then it will be proved to be the father’s property and then it will be sold.

Colonel: Well, well, I’ll tell you better.  First, the horse must be out of the way to-morrow, and we will indulge you with him at a private sale in the evening.

Major: Thanks, thanks, noble Colonel.  I shall ever acknowledge this as a great and worthy favor indeed.  We that bear the brunt of the battle should have some rewards for it.  The Congress prodigiously overlooks the merits of the militia; neither tents nor hospitals through the bushes.  My lads, that’s all we have.  We therefore should take care of ourselves at home.  And who is better entitled to the spoils of the Tories than we who have the trouble to hunt them, to clap them in gaol, and so forth?"[3]

During most of the war the British held New York City and they attempted to link up with their forces in Canada along the Hudson River, thereby splitting the colonies in two.  Patriots in Orange County built a big chain across the river at West Point to try to stop the British ships from navigating the river.  The local militia fought at times against the British; at other times against the Indians who were allied with the British.  The chief of the Iroquois was Joseph Brant, a well-educated man who had spent several years at what became Dartmouth College.  During the war he went to England where he met the king, was lionized by high society, and was made a captain in the British Army.  Upon his return he led a number of successful raids against the settlers, ranging from Kentucky to New York.  In 1779 he led a raid into Orange County which culminated in the Battle of Minisink, where the local militia was outnumbered and outgunned.  When they ran out of ammunition, those still alive fled as best they could. Major Poppino was one of the few survivors.  Forty-three years later, the bones of the dead were collected and suitably interred in a big ceremony.  Major Poppino, then 96, marched in the parade and was a pall-bearer.  He died in 1826, just short of 101 years of age.

A century after the Battle of Minisink, Lyman C. Draper, an important historian of the Revolution and settlement of the frontier, contacted some of Poppino’s descendants in connection with a planned biography of Brant.  According to his grandson, Jackson Poppino, the Major was struck by a ball and fell insensible and when he came to, there was not a man in sight.  By the help of his gun, he crawled down a ledge of rocks, and concealed himself under it.  Soon after, not less than a dozen Indians came running and jumped off the ledge.  They did not seem to see him;  one came so close that he broke a piece off the Major’s gun. After they passed he waited until all was still, then he made lint and dressed his wounds and crept into a thicket of scrub oaks near him; by cutting off twigs and sticking them in the ground he concealed himself.  Soon the Indians returned, seeing the blood under the ledge they searched the thicket but did not find him. It took him three or four days to get home.  When he reached home at night and knocked on the door, his wife, knowing his knock, said "come in John Poppino, dead or alive."  He entered with the remark that he thought he was alive.[4]

Another descendant wrote that his height was about five feet and his body was very slender.  He was a man of strict integrity and very much respected.  As his hearing began to fail in his old age, he would climb the stairs at one end of the church to the balcony, and with the assistance of a cane, walk slowly along the whole length of it and take his seat opposite the high pulpit where he could best hear the minister.  One of his sons was for many years an elder in the church; another committed to memory many portions of the Bible.  A descendant reported visiting that son’s home when he was very old and, when so requested, he repeated from memory the whole of the 49^th chapter of Genesis.[5]

Major Poppino’s obituary read in part:  "The deceased was born in this county, where he had always resided, and died within three miles of the place of his birth.  He was in the service of his country in the old French War, and stationed at Fort Edward—was among the Fathers of our Independence—held the commission of Major in the War of the Revolution, and was almost constantly on duty….The deceased had raised a numerous and very respectable family of children, most of whom are now in advanced age.  He had lived more than fifty-two years with the wife of his youth….His habits through life were strictly temperate, and he was consequently blessed with an unusual degree of health and activity."[6]

Major John Poppino’s house today       photo by Femi Roecker

These, then, were the Poppinos—farmers, churchgoers, warriors when necessary. After the Revolution when many veterans were taking up land in northern and western New York, some of them moved there; others to Pennsylvania and on west.  Today there are more Poppinos than Popenoes, and a few of them have changed their name back to Papineau.